Irresponsible data collection & use

Our policy

We want users to trust that information about them will be respected and handled with appropriate care. As such, our advertising partners should not misuse this information, nor collect it for unclear purposes or without appropriate security measures.

Examples of what's not allowed

Here are some examples of content that we don't allow:

Unsafe collection or use of personal information

Using security measures inappropriate for the type of information being collected

Examples: Collecting numbers for credit or debit cards, bank and investment accounts, wire transfers, national identity, tax ID, pension, healthcare, driver's licence, or social security numbers over an unsecured page which is not SSL protected and without a valid certificate

Misuse of personal information

Using personal information in ways that users have not consented to

Examples: Re-selling users' contact information, using images of users in ads without their consent

What you can do

Change your website to comply. To run your ad, you'll need to change your website so that you either stop collecting personal information from users or collect that personal information through a secure SSL server to keep it safe.

Option 1: Use a secure server.
If you need to collect personal information from customers, make sure that your webpage uses a secure processing server (called SSL) when collecting this information. With SSL, your webpage URL will appear with https:// instead of http://.

Option 2: Don't collect user data.
You can also change your website's behavior so that it doesn't ask for personal information, allowing users to access your site's content without collecting their data.

Request a review once your site is fixed. Once you change your website to comply with our policy, use this link to let us know:Review my fixed website

We'll review your site, usually within 3 business days, though some can take longer if they need a more complex review. If we find that your site meets all of our policy requirements, we can approve it so your ads can start running.

If you aren't able to fix these violations or choose not to, please remove your ad to help prevent your account from becoming suspended in the future for having too many disapproved ads.

Read the policy above to see the type of behaviors that we don't allow.

Change your website. If the site that your ad leads to violates this policy, please change it to make it comply. You'll then need to request a site review before moving on to the next step of changing your ad text.Review my fixed website

Or, you can choose to change your destination URL to point to another page of your website that doesn't include this type of content.

Once you edit and save your ad, it gets sent to us for review. Most ads are reviewed within 1 business day, though some can take longer if they need a more complex review. If we find that you've removed the unacceptable content from your ad and landing page, we can approve your ad to start running.

If you aren't able to fix these violations or choose not to, please remove your ad to help prevent your account from becoming suspended in the future for having too many disapproved ads.

What happens if you violate this policy

Ad disapproval: Ads that don't follow this policy may get disapproved. A disapproved ad won't be able to run until the policy violation is fixed and the ad is approved.

Domain disabling: We may suspend websites that violate this policy, meaning that the website can no longer be advertised until the problem is fixed.

Account suspension: An account may get suspended if you have several violations or a serious violation. If this happens, all ads in the suspended account will stop running, and we may no longer accept advertising from you. Any related accounts may also get permanently suspended and your new accounts may get automatically suspended at setup. Learn more about suspended accounts.

To ensure a safe and positive experience for users, Google requires that advertisers comply with all applicable laws and regulations in addition to the Google AdWords policies. It's important to familiarize yourself with and keep up to date on these requirements for the places where your business operates, as well as any other places your ads are showing. When we find content that violates these requirements, we may block it from appearing, and in cases of repeated or serious violations, you may no longer be able to advertise with Google.